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~~Holiday Special (Day 3/7, Page 1/6)~~
The rebounding blast clipped the old man’s shoulder. He dropped the gun and fell to the ground, groaning in agony.

“I feel a little bad, but I did try to warn you.”

The man clutched his shoulder and growled, “What are you?!”

“I’m not too sure myself anymore,” she said. “But look, you’re wounded. I’d be happy to call you an ambulance. Or would you rather I went to find help on foot?”

“Argh...!” His groaning protests soon became breathy whimpers. “In the den. The satellite phone.”

“What’s the number for the emergency services around here?”

“7-5-1.”

“Hang in there, sir.” She wasn’t terribly concerned over his condition since the wound didn’t look very bad, but all the same, she decided she should make the emergency call first.

She found the phone exactly where he said it would be and raised her left hand up to dial, and upon that left hand was a rather special thing.

A kind of half-gauntlet, it was. It did not cover her fingers, nor was it made of metal. Instead, it was crafted from bone.

She spoke to a woman and warned that the driver should take special care to look for the house hidden in the woods, and the operator said it would be about twenty minutes before they arrived.

Lynnette decided to rummage around the house for some bandages and dress the man’s wound just in case. He hadn’t bled that much, but there was no harm in the extra caution, she figured.

And at length, she was able to dial the number that Roman had given her. The long-distance call took a little while to connect, but it eventually went through. And for her trouble, she received a busy signal. “Oh, come on! This can’t be happening!” She tried again. “Gina! I swear, if you don’t take my call--!”

<“Hello?”>

“FINALLY! Goddess above!” She collapsed into a rocking chair.

<“Who is this?”>

“It’s Lynnette Edith. Gina, if you say you don’t remember me, I’m going to lose my shit right now.”